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Assuming the vehicle was running before the timing belt was replaced, I have to ask, are you sure you lined up the timing marks correctly? This would be the first thing I would check myself if I were working on this vehicle. This vehicle has two different timing mark setups, depending on the eighth digit of the VIN. The VIN H is a little less forgiving when it comes to timing mark alignment. Often times, the marks will appear to be lined up, but they can be a full tooth off. On vehicles I have not worked on before, I take close look at how things are aligned before I remove the timing belt. This may seem like a straight forward and obvious thing, but if you move the belt a tooth this way or that way, you will see this is not always as clean cut as we would like.

Often times the crank or cam sensors are mounted on the front of the motor with the timing belt, but this one doesn’t seem to have that. I mention this because it is easy to forget to plug in a connector to one of these sensors or pinch a wire when you are assembling. It’s good practice to follow all harness in the area you have worked on to make sure nothing has been pinched between and engine mount or timing covers.

If it has a distributor, another possibility is the distributor could be out of sync with the rest of the timing components. If you turned the cams over, the distributor could be out of time by 180 degrees. Make sure the rotor is pointing to cylinder number one while cylinder number one piston is at top dead center of its compression stroke. This may or may not align.

Of course, I began with assuming the vehicle was running before disassembly. If it wasn’t, this opens up a bunch of other possibilities. In this case I would begin by checking for spark, fuel pressure and injector pulse. I would check codes and sensor data with a scan tool. Did you have to disconnect the CTS (coolant temperature sensor) when replacing the timing belt? If it didn’t get plugged back in, the connector or wires have been damaged, then this could easily cause this symptom.

If the vehicle was running before you tore into it, try and walk back through everything you did. This is often helpful and giving yourself a clue.

Good luck. I hope I was able to help you. If you need some assistance, a good place to start is to have a qualified mobile mechanic check for codes then recommend the best path to repair.

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